chapter eight,
act three
CARLYN QUICKLY walked out of the bathroom, heart beating fast in her chest as she made her way back into the living room. Confusion crossed her features when she saw everyone gathered in the room before her eyes fell on Mindy, blood soaking her shirt.
"Fuck," Carlyn breathed out, rushing forward. She squatted down in front of the girl.
"Where were you?" Richie questioned, distrust evident in his tone as he eyed her.
"I was in the bathroom!" Carlyn defended herself, touching Sam with her still slightly wet hand, hoping that would be enough to prove that she didn't do this.
Before anyone could respond, the back door slammed shut and Liv came running in. Amber held out her hands cautiously. "Stay the fuck back! I was with Tara, but the rest of you were wandering around!" She pointed at everyone else. "One of you is the fucking killer!"
"Fuck you, Amber!" Liv got out. "Fuck you!"
Carlyn slowly stood up, recalling what the girl had said about what happened to the 'expert'. Her eyes landed on Liv's hands and she swallowed thickly. "Liv. . ." she began, slow. "Why is there blood on your hands?"
"What?" Liv trembled, looking down at her hands. "I found Chad. I found Chad and he's—"
"Chad?" Carlyn repeated, and though she didn't quite believe the girl, horror was still laced in her tone.
"You're fucking lying," Amber spat, looking at Liv in pure disgust.
"No—" Liv tried.
"You're the killer," Richie accused.
"No, I'm not—"
"Liv, stop!" Amber attempted to get her to calm down, trying to take control of the situation. "Liv — Liv just stop!"
"Fuck you, Amber," Liv seethed. "I'm not the fucking killer!"
"I know," Amber replied nonchalantly. Carlyn watched in horror as Amber took out a gun, pointed it straight at Liv, and fired. The girl's body went limp as blood splattered on the wall behind her.
Carlyn sucked in a gasp, hand coming up to her mouth as her eyes began to water.
Amber turned towards them, gun raised as she smirked. "Welcome to act three."
"Run!" Richie hollered.
Carlyn didn't need to be told twice. She bolted as soon as she heard the words. Her feet carried her before her mind could tell them where to go. Instead of running out the door like she'd always said she'd do, she ran up the stairs.
She ran into the first spare bedroom upstairs, slamming both of the doors shut and locking them. Her eyes looked over the room, trying to find a suitable place to hide before they landed on another door — the door to the storage room. She quickly rushed towards it, praying that it was unlocked.
Thankfully, it was. Carlyn let out a relieved sigh, making her way further into the room. The relief quickly washed away, however. Now that she was alone, she realized she'd made a horrible mistake.
"Why did you go upstairs?" Carlyn pressed her palm into her forehead. "Fucking stupid!"
She bit down on the inside of her cheek, slowly maneuvering her way through the boxes to not make any sound. She attempted to pry open the windows not covered by boxes.
"Shit!" she cursed, letting her hands fall down to her sides. She grabbed her hair, trying to figure out what to do as tears fell down her cheeks — both from frustration and fear.
She could stay here, let Amber try to find her. Ultimately, if that happened, she'd be trapped. She wouldn't have anywhere to go. If she tried to get out of the house any other way, she'd definitely be caught.
Either way, she'd most likely end up dead.
Her hands moved from her hair to her necklace. Would she rather die fighting, or die hiding? Her friends were downstairs, and Amber and her fucking partner had already taken too much from her. Wes, Judy, Chad, Mindy, Liv — she'd be damned if she was going to let her take anyone else.
Carlyn moved out of the two rooms before she could change her mind. She looked down into the foyer from the balcony where she saw a woman, Ghostface, Sam, and Richie.
"Sit the fuck down, Prescott!" Richie shouted, gun raised at the woman.
Carlyn's stomach churned — the other Ghostface was Richie.
She carefully moved back into the room, going through the second door and using the back way to get to Amber's parents' room. When she entered the master bedroom, she headed through the door that led down another pair of stairs that would let her get a better view of what was happening downstairs. She cracked the door open and watched Amber and Richie lead Sam and the woman into the kitchen.
She stayed there for a second, waiting to see if the coast was totally clear. Just before she was ready to step out, Amber came walking out, a large grin on her face as she opened the front door.
Carlyn took her opportunity, she rushed down the stairs and into the hallway, quickly opening the closet, stepping in, and closing it so Amber didn't see her. She pulled out her phone, turning out the flashlight as she looked for anything that could help her. She'd seen Stab about a billion times thanks to Mindy, so when her eyes landed on an umbrella, she couldn't but quietly laugh.
She cracked open the closet door once more, seeing Amber push Gale Weathers into the kitchen. She sucked in a shaky, but deep breath as she slipped out.
She crept over to the kitchen, pressing her back against the wall beside the doorway and listened to what was happening. ". . . the daughter of Billy Loomis who sees fucked-up visions of her dead dad," Richie spoke. "Sidney Prescott killed your father. You did all this just to get her back to Woodsboro."
"You know what the biggest problem with the Stab movies is?" Amber questioned.
"Carlyn!" a voice whispered, making the girl turn around to see Tara. The Carpenter girl motioned for her to come to her. Carlyn glanced back towards the kitchen before moving into the other room. They hid behind the wall and tried to listen to what was happening as best they could.
"No!" Sam screamed out, and the teenage girls held onto each other, eyes clenching shut in fear.
Carlyn peeked her head out, turning her head to see Amber walking out of the living room and into her bedroom across the hall. "I'm gonna go over to the living room, okay? I'm gonna try to at least knock her out, but I need you to be ready to do anything. Whether it be run or beat the living hell out of her with your crutches, I don't care, but stay here for now."
Tara nodded and Carlyn went to rush over to the other side of the house. "Tara's not in here!" Amber called out, making the girl pause, hiding herself in between the stairs and the wall.
"Fuck do you mean she's not in there?" Richie hollered back.
"She's not here!"
"Fan out. She couldn't have gotten far, not even with Carlyn's help!" Richie shouted.
Amber huffed, beginning to walk into the living room. "I can't find her!"
Carlyn stepped out from her hiding spot and swung the umbrella, smacking Amber straight in the face. Amber fell back on the floor and Carlyn took her moment of weakness. She slammed the tip of the umbrella down.
Amber screamed in pain and Carlyn managed to get a few hits in before she rolled away. Amber kicked her feet, her foot hitting Carlyn's knee, causing the girl to lose her balance and her hold on the umbrella as she used her hands to attempt to catch her fall.
Amber climbed on top of her, hands going around her throat. Carlyn struggled from below her and attempted clawing at her hands. She then reached for Amber's throat but when she went to tighten her hands, Amber was knocked off of her.
Tara continued hitting her former best friend with her crutches as Carlyn moved to stand up, gasping for air as she leaned against the wall. Amber pulled the same move on Tara that she did with Carlyn. Tara stumbled back, pain shooting up her already injured leg. Amber stood, grabbing her shoulders.
While Amber slammed Tara into the wall, Carlyn frantically tried to look for her umbrella, which had somehow gotten kicked away in the fight. Amber threw Tara over the couch and turned her attention to Carlyn.
Carlyn looked at her and ran into the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the holder and heading further into the room. When Amber followed her, the unfamiliar woman, which Carlyn now realized was Sidney Prescott, grabbed onto her robe and tugged on it, making the younger girl fall to the ground.
Amber recovered quickly, tossing her robe off of her and grabbing a knife from the island. ". . . fucking kill you!" she exclaimed, preparing to stab.
Gale held her arm back and Sidney reached behind her, finding a bottle and slamming it into the girl's face.
"The fucking hand sanitizer?" Amber questioned.
Carlyn tried to figure out what to do. It seemed the two older women had Amber handled, grabbing hold of her body and tossing her onto the island. Amber crawled into the corner of the counters while Gale and Sidney neared her.
She held her hands up. "No, no, no! It's not my fault! It's not my fault!"
"Let me guess, the movies made you do it?" Sidney spoke from experience while Carlyn also moved closer to a girl she'd once trusted with her whole heart.
"No, it was the message boards! I was radicalized!"
"By movie fans?" Gale hissed.
"Yes, they're so mad!" Amber pleaded. "Please, it's not my fault. I'm just a dumb kid! I just wanted to be apart of something!"
"A dumb kid?" Carlyn repeated, eyes narrowing as her grip on the knife tightened. "Amber, you fucking killed people! You killed Wes and his mom—" She glanced over at Gale. "You killed Dewey!"
"Yeah," Amber smirked. "And they all died like fucking pussies!"
Amber's hand collided with Carlyn's stomach, making the girl let go of the knife. Amber quickly snatched it from the floor and shoved the blade into the right side of Carlyn's stomach before pulling it out. The Windsor girl's eyes went wide as she looked down at the wound. At first it didn't register, not feeling anything but a tingle.
Then her body felt like it was on fire. She backed up into the island, the impact shocking her and making her fall. Carlyn winced and sucked in a sharp breath as she tried to get up to help Sidney and Gale with the teenage murderer.
Carlyn finally managed to stand up as Amber reached for the knife again, having got Gale and Sidney to the floor. Carlyn moved back, hand clutching her stomach. However, she hit the counter once more. Amber grabbed onto her right shoulder and slammed the knife down into her left.
Carlyn gasped, definitely feeling the pain now. Amber removed the knife, grabbing both of her shoulders and shoving her down onto the floor. Every inch of Carlyn's body felt like it was on fire.
Amber straddled her stomach. She leaned down so her lips were beside Carlyn's ear. "You were supposed to be there that night with Tara. You were supposed to be the first kill. But of course, that stupid boyfriend of yours insisted you stayed the night with him. At least you and Wes both died virgins."
"God," Carlyn grunted at the added weight of the girl. "Jokes on you, he didn't die a virgin." Carlyn's pocket felt heavy and she suddenly remembered her pocketknife.
"Aw," Amber spoke sarcastically. "How cute."
"Thanks," Carlyn breathily whispered, quickly pulling her hand out from Amber's leg and using her nails to scratch her cheek.
Amber gasped, bringing her free hand up to her face. "What the fu—" Carlyn took her opportunity to grab a fistful of the girl's hair and yank her down off of her. Amber's back hit the corner of the island while Carlyn reached into her pocket to grab her knife and rolled over into her left side. She quickly opened the knife and slammed it into Amber's side before pulling it out.
Amber reached forward, repeating Carlyn's actions by yanking on her hair and pulling her down. The knife slipped out of Carlyn's hands once more as Amber climbed back on top of her. Carlyn cursed the fact that her instinct was to let go of things.
"You're fucking up my movie!" Amber screeched, not even bothering to pick up one of the knifes, instead opting to attempt her hands again. Amber ignored every attempt Carlyn made. After a while, Carlyn's attempts went weak as black dotted her vision.
Just before slipping into unconsciousness, Amber was ripped from on top of her. Carlyn sucked in air as Gale dragged Amber back. Carlyn didn't see the fight, hand up to her throat while she tried to take control of her breathing.
Carlyn heard gunshots and her head snapped to the side. Her eyes widened as she watched Amber body light up in flames. The girl screamed in pain as she tried to get the flames off of her before she fell to the floor, silent.
The three watched Amber silently. The older women knew how persistent these psychos could be, so they were waiting for any sign that she was alive. After a few minutes, Gale and Sidney eventually turned back to Carlyn.
Carlyn groaned in pain as she stood up. She clutched her stomach and slowly bent down to grab her knife. She wiped the blood off on her pants and closed it, shoving it back into her pocket.
"Is she dead?" she wondered, looking at Amber.
"We think so," Sidney answered, resting a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.
Carlyn nodded and turned around to walk out of the kitchen. She saw Sam standing above a seemingly dead Richie. Blood came from everywhere on his body. Carlyn would've grimaced at the sight had she not been so relieved.
"Careful," Sidney advised her as they joined her side. "They always come back."
Sam took the gun from Gale's hand and shot Richie three times, the final one landing on his head. Carlyn flinched as pieces of brain shot out from his skull.
"Okay, then," Gale broke the silence.
Suddenly, there was another scream behind them. The four all turned around to see Amber coming at them with a knife in hand and her face half burned off. There was another gunshot and Amber's body went limp.
They all looked over to see who had saved them. Tara stood with the gun in her shaking hands. "I still prefer The Babadook."
Carlyn couldn't help the relieved smile that made its way onto her face.
It was over.
𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒍 !!
i kind of hate this i'm ngl